Writer. Maker. Reader.

Winter to do List: Earth Oven

I’ve been dreaming about an earth (or brick) oven similar to this one for a long time. I have a bread baking book that includes instructions for a clay version, and I’ve been looking at Build your Own Earth Oven on Amazon longingly.

This oven is at Colonial Williamsburg at the military encampment. It was cold and quiet the day we were there–the only thing cold in Williamsburg. It was unbearably hot and humid that day, so I’m not surprised that the camp follower didn’t have this oven fired up. I’m not sure if she (the camp follower–probably a soldier’s wife) or one of the soldier cooks would have been in charge of baking bread in an encampment like this circa 1776 but if there had been a full enlistment of soldiers, a lot of bread would have been coming out of this oven.

I’ve been dreaming a lot about building an oven like this, and it’s moving up on my to-do list. Maybe late this fall when the weather finally cools off. Then I could bake bread outside when it turns cold. Of course, I’m already dreaming of pizzas, casseroles, and all the other yummy things that can be baked in a wood-fired oven.